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Perthshire boasts an attractive and diverse rural landscape. The eastern region, particularly in the lower lands, contains some of the best quality land in Scotland which is used intensively for horticulture and other arable crops. Highland Perthshire has a more scattered and less dense population, with hill and upland farming and high landscape values, and an important tourism industry. While the region benefits from a robust rural economy, the long term effects of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic are yet to be seen. This period of change has underscored the breadth of the industry – providing food, employment, tourism, and energy to not just the local area, but nationally and internationally.
One Perthshire based Thorntons’ client noted “a honeymoon period” at the beginning of lockdown where his sales to the retail sector increased, which contributed to March 2020 being the biggest month of grocery sales ever recorded in the country. However, the supply to restaurants, fast food outlets, work places, schools and entertainment events “crashed spectacularly” and companies who supplied the food service industry found their revenue source removed overnight. With the easing of lockdown restrictions in Perthshire this market source is picking up again, however new variants of the virus may lead to more local lockdowns, having an impact on the industry and trading.
While navigating the challenges faced by landowners and rural businesses throughout the last year, many of our clients have been reminded how vital diversification has become to ensuring a healthy and profitable rural business. Perth and Kinross’s farm sector is diverse and it has shown capacity for diversification into, for example, direct sales and farm tourism. This was evidenced in a recent rural survey with nearly half of respondents in the region operating a non-farm enterprise, which was well above the 28% national average. Perth and Kinross Council actively promote the development of local food supply chains and we enjoy several farmers’ and country markets and a significant number of suppliers of speciality foods. Similarly, the region has high potential for a range of renewable energy developments including hydro, wind and biomass from very large-scale installations to micro-scale installations.
While diversification offers some stability, the compounded problems of Brexit and the pandemic led to seasonal worker shortages in Perthshire. Approximately 10,000 seasonal workers are required for Scotland’s fruit, vegetable and ornamentals sectors each year and the Perthshire area makes use of a significant seasonal agricultural labour force, many of whom come from Eastern Europe. This posed an obvious concern at the beginning of the pandemic for those who rely on migrant workers, as much of Europe closed its borders to international travel, airlines were grounded and there was a threat of strict quarantining rules on arrival into Scotland. The Pick for Britain website was developed collaboratively to support the agricultural sector in avoiding labour shortages and charter flights from Eastern Europe were eventually permitted to bring migrant workers into the UK, who were classed as ‘key workers’. With tighter rules imposed on entry requirements and visas for foreign workers post-Brexit, the sector’s labour woes may present an ongoing challenge if not addressed and certainly the increased administrative burden documenting entry, have translated into increasing labour costs.
However, the recent announcement by the Tay City Deal joint committee, greenlighting the International Barley Hub and the Advanced Plant Growth Centre, two flagship innovation projects supported through Government capital investment via the Tay Cities Region Deal, bring welcome news for the recovery of the region’s rural and agriculture sector. Barley is one of Scotland’s most important crops, being key to brewing and distilling but also used for animal feed. It is estimated the two projects will create over 470 jobs in Perthshire and the Tayside region with a further 2,200 jobs across the wider Scottish and UK economy.
This continued growth in and around Perth and Kinross bodes well for the recovery needed after COVID-19. The focus on investing in a cleaner, greener society presents a chance for the rural sector in Perthshire to shine. The pandemic has shown that the rural economy is resilient but perhaps the sector now has the opportunity to revisit current working practices and make a positive climate impact, while assisting with the economic recovery.


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BMW considers quitting UK post-Brexit
BMW said it is reviewing its factories in the United Kingdom ahead of Brexit and that it has the flexibility to move production elsewhere if necessary.
The Munich-based manufacturer, which makes vehicles for its Mini brand in Oxford, Rolls-Royces in Goodwood and engines in Hams Hall near Birmingham, is preparing for “different scenarios” once the UK leaves the European Union, the BMW chief executive Harald Krueger said in Munich on Tuesday.
“Our production network offers us flexibility,” Mr Krueger said, noting that Minis are also built at a plant in the Netherlands. That said, “the UK remains an important location for us. Much will depend on how Brexit is ultimately negotiated”.
Car makers are concerned that the UK’s exit from the EU may lead to costly trade barriers, hampering the free movement of components and vehicles between production sites and end-consumers across Europe. Production of the Mini could move to BMW’s plant in Born, Netherlands, or to Leipzig, Germany, where 1-Series compact cars are rolled out based on a similar platform.
BMW’s comment on Brexit comes as the German car maker’s overseas operations become increasingly vulnerable to a possible clampdown on free trade. The US president Donald Trump criticised BMW for planning to make cars at a US$1 billion factory it is building in central Mexico, and threatened the car maker with a 35 per cent duty on autos it imports to the United States.
Despite these threats, BMW is pushing ahead with plans to roll out 3-Series models at the San Luis Potosi plant starting in 2019, said the chief financial Nicolas Peter on Tuesday. Construction at the site is “proceeding according to plan”, he said.
The German luxury-car maker plans to increase capacity at its site in Spartanburg, South Carolina, which makes X Series 4x4s, to 450,000 annually from 410,000 currently. BMW has said it is the largest exporter on a net basis from the US, with goods worth $10bn per year, and that it helps to support 70,000 jobs in the country.
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Updated: March 21, 2017 04:00 AM

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Mar 30, 2017 07:54 AM EDT
Facebook has finally provided an access to its feature that allows users with the right equipment to stream 360-degree live videos on the widely-used social network. On Wednesday, the California-based Corporation formally announced that users can now share their spherical content using a camera that can shoot footages with the said degrees.
The popular social network Facebook has made streaming more transformative for its users as it combined for the first time the live streaming and the 360-degree footage features. These two features were initially introduced three months ago as separate updates and it took a matter of time to put it in a single premium development.
The National Geographic was the inaugural user of the feature backed in December when it broadcasted live an 80-day isolation of eight space scientists in Mars. Now the 360-degre live videos roll out globally to all profiles and pages and serve Facebook users with equipment like Samsung Gear 360, Giroptic IO, Insta360, Allie Camera, Z Cam S1 and the Nokia Ozo cameras.
Chetan Gupta and Abesh Thakur, the product managers of Facebook, explained the process in going 360-degree live videos in just five easy steps. To do it, a user should open up the camera's software, log into Facebook, set the post's privacy, write the description then go live.
Aside from the 360-degree live videos, Facebook also introduced spatial audio features that will allow users to experience the exact sounds within the footage as they are in actual scenes. It was first added in October for pre-recorded 360 videos but it can now be utilized in live broadcasts.
Facebook Product Manager Supratik Lahiri and Software Engineer Chetan Gupta shared in a blog post that this new feature gives users authentic window to the everyday happenings in the world. They wrote, "360 video immerses viewers fully into the scene, letting them explore on their own and experience a new environment."
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Domino’s Releases an Apple Watch App for Easy Ordering
For those who are too lazy to pick up the phone.
Now ordering delivery from Domino’s can be handled with a quick tap on your Apple Watch. The mass-market pizza giant announced Wednesday it has added its Easy Order service to Cupertino’s smartwatch operating system.
Domino’s claims to be the first pizza company in America to offer ordering via Apple watch, and it follows the UK launch of the app in January. To use the service, customers must have a regular East Order saved in their Domino’s “Pizza Profile” — Pizza Profiles; what a time to be alive. Once an order…


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Target and Walmart—synonymous with super discounted prices on everything from soap and cereal to side tables—recently announced an expansion of their organic and natural offerings, especially in the food category. (Within 24 hours of each other, no less.)
Target unveiled their Made to Matter collection of packaged goods, including brands they currently carry—such as Method, Horizon Organic, Yes To, Kashi, and Annie’s—but with new, exclusive products such an air freshener actually powered by air (as opposed to aerosol). “We noticed from our research that the Target consumer wants organic and natural products, but they are usually more expensive,” says Jessica Stevens, a Target spokesperson. “This makes it easier to find better-for-you options.” Items are already in stores.
For similar reasons, Walmart says it will start carrying Wild Oats, an almost-entirely-organic label previously owned by Whole Foods (can you say “halo effect”?). It will stock about 100 different products at prices at least 25 percent cheaper than its competitors. Expect to see them in about 2,000 stores nationwide soon. (We reached out to Walmart for further details, but we didn’t hear back after several attempts.)
Making natural and organic food available to more people is being viewed as a national game-changer. It’s a boon for those without a nearby Whole Foods (or a Whole Foods budget), and it’s appealing to food advocates, including the Environmental Working Group (EWG). “The news from Walmart and Target means that American consumers will have more access to organic food—and that’s a good thing,” says Heather White, EWG’s executive director.
Because of the scale of these stores, Vani Hari, a consumer advocate and the founder of Food Babe, says “not only will millions more people now have access, [this development] will likely create even more demand for organic food, which will help grow the organic food industry.”
Collectively, Target’s and Walmart’s plans could change the landscape of organics in the country. But with these major developments come some big questions—namely how a mega-store mentality meshes with the country’s existing organic playbook. And there’s concern over the origins of organic foods sold at big-box stores, and whether the world’s largest grocers might put pressure on the organic standards currently in place.
So, how will these changes affect you? Here’s what experts say you should know when shopping for organic and natural products at these superstores:
1. Compare labels As more people start to see organic foods offered at their local stores, understanding what’s really in our food will become easier, says Hari. “There’s a big difference between organic food and conventional food and many people are unaware of this, because they’ve only had access to conventional food.”
Label reading can inspire clean eating Ah-ha! moments for people, she says. “For example, organic food is grown without synthetic pesticides, produced without artificial flavors and colors, antibiotics, growth hormone, trans fats, and other very controversial preservatives and fillers. Being able to compare the ingredient lists on organic food against conventional food, side by side in the store, will help consumers understand why organic food is so much healthier,” Hari explains.
2. How to tell if items are really organic Initially, Walmart will only carry packaged organic goods such as tomato paste, chicken broth, and applesauce cups—not fresh produce. Most of the Wild Oats goods are emblazoned with the USDA Organic stamp, and this has checks and balances starting at the farm all the way to the label. “If they’re using the seal, it’s either 95% or 100% organic,” says Max Goldberg, an authority on organic foods.
Goldberg advises to use caution with Target’s collection. “Hopefully, consumers don’t believe that all the brands are organic, because they’re not,” Goldberg says. While the company isn’t marketing the Made to Matter collection in this way, but rather as “natural, organic and sustainable,” it could still be confusing to customers who aren’t 100 percent clear on the distinctions. Kashi, for example, has some organic offerings, as well as food with controversial, genetically modified ingredients. Target is also stocking beauty products under the new collection that vary greatly in their purity.
3. Read the ingredient list, not just the front of the package Don’t be wooed by the alluring products names and verbiage on the front of packaged foods. Flip it over and “read the ingredients,” says Alexandra Jamieson, a food activist and expert on reading nutrition labels. “The old saying that you can’t judge a book by its cover is true for organic food, too—you can’t judge a food by the graphics on the label!”
It’s especially important to scan the ingredient list when you’re buying “corporate organic” —or products made by smaller companies that have been bought out by larger ones, Jamieson adds. “Sometimes reformulations will hit the shelves and look just like the old version. New labels may say ‘all natural’ or ‘natural’ but those terms are misleading and do NOT mean it’s organic,” she says.
4. Be aware of private-labeling That Walmart and Target have created their own private label brands, such as Wild Oats and Target’s Simply Balanced, is a red flag for Hari. (In private labeling, someone else manufactures the goods.) “As someone who cares deeply about supporting the right companies and voting with my dollars, not knowing the source of their manufacturer(s) is concerning. Buying organic food is about transparency—knowing where your food is coming from and how it’s produced—and using private label ‘brands’ keeps these facts secret from the consumer.”
5. Note that not all USDA certified organic foods are grown in the U.S. Any product labeled as “organic” must meet USDA organic standards, but it could be grown anywhere from Topeka to Turkey, says Goldberg. There are now about 30,000 organic farms and processing facilities certified to the USDA organic standards world-over. While any store may stock organics grown elsewhere, Goldberg is concerned that Walmart in particular won’t be able to resist the cheapest option, which is often China. “There have been serious safety issues with products from China, so I wouldn’t feel comfortable with trusting organics from there at this time.”
6. Keep an eye open for legislation affecting your organic groceries Goldberg worries that big box stores selling organic foods might affect the organic laws we have in place: “If you have a company like Walmart getting into this, are they going to put pressure on the organic standards? Are the standards going to weaken? Jamieson says it’s all about playing watchdog: “If we really care about organic standards—we have to keep an eye on what these companies do.”
The takeaway More organic products, in more stores, is a healthier thing. “If you can’t get organic food in your community,” Jamieson says, “and Walmart is carrying organic apples and kale, you should buy them!” And in the meantime, Goldberg thinks the people have spoken, “This is what people want,” he says. “People wake up and they look forward to eating their organic breakfast. People don’t wake up looking forward to eating a genetically-modified breakfast.” —Molly Gallagher and Melisse Gelula
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About 13,000 auto workers walked off the job in Michigan at 12:00 am this morning as union demands and automaker offers failed to meet. Workers at all three Detroit-based automakers (Ford, General Motors, Stellantis) walked out of select factories to protest the negotiation failures.
This marks the first time in the United Auto Workers union’s history that walkouts from all three automakers have taken place. The strikes, which were timed and strategically chosen, are limited to just one factory for each automaker involved. They are not unilateral strikes, but targeted to drive home the point that the companies will need to step up the compromises or face further downtime.
For their part, automakers are facing a lot of pressures. The political pressure to upgrade facilities and undertake changes and research for electric vehicle production is huge. And not cheap. Meanwhile, workers who’ve given concessions in the past to ease economic woes are demanding they now reap the benefits of that. Even as pressure from other automakers, who’ve set up shop in places where the UAW does not have heavy influence, begins to edge in on the Detroit 3’s EV plans with lower-cost labor.
The UAW members left work and shut down production at Ford’s Wayne, Michigan plant, GM’s Wentzville, Missouri plant, and Stellantis’ Toledo, Ohio plant. This affects production of only a few vehicles for each automaker, avoiding a crippling effect should all high-demand vehicles be lost. And it allows the union to target strike contingency funds to keep workers paid as they picket. The UAW estimates that its strike contingency fund could run indefinitely with just these 13,000 workers drawing from it, but would last only a few weeks should all UAW workers (about 146,000 members) from the three companies walk off the job.
The vehicles affected will include the Ford Bronco and Ranger, the GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado, and the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator. Commercial vehicles such as the GMC Savana and Chevrolet Express are also affected.
The union is demanding 36 percent wage increases over four years. GM and Ford offered 20 percent raises, according to a UAW spokesperson, and Stellantis offered 17.5 percent. The UAW is also demanding a return of pensions to new hires, a concession made during the 2008-09 negotiations during the recession to lessen the debt burden of these automakers when bankruptcy was looming. The union is also demanding a 32-hour work week with 40 hours of pay. As well as pension increases for retirees and the return of automated cost of living wage increases. And the union is demanding that new joint-venture electric vehicle factories require union labor contracts.
That last is probably the biggest point of contention for the Detroit makes. Most of the joint ventures involve companies that are not in automotive or that are not based in the U.S. And those ventures likely already have contracts and agreements in place, which would have to be amended to accommodate the union demand. That would affect costs and would likely result in less favorable deals for the automakers.
To reference this, the average top-scale assembly plant worker in the UAW averages about $32 per hour plus large profit-sharing checks. Ford says that the average pay for its assembly line workers, including overtime and bonuses, is $78,000 per year. Plus benefits. Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, has an income of $1.7 million plus stock incentives to a total of about $21M in all.
(Photo courtesy of UAW)


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Automated Digital Sales Set to Grab Indirect Revenue From Channel
… Automated digital sales (ADS) are set to be vendors’ second- and third-highest source of indirect revenue over the next five years, according to the latest research by The 2112 Group.
ADS – defined by the analyst as a “burgeoning channel segment” in which commercial and consumer purchasers select and buy products with no to little human interaction – is set to cause notable disruption to the channel as it becomes a “primary source” of indirect revenue for vendors, the research finds.
However, there is also opportunity for channel partners who can deliver professional, managed and integration services, the report, Strategies for Engaging Automated Digital Sales Channels, notes.
“ADS channels will not completely replace existing channels,” Lawrence M. Walsh, CEO and chief analyst of The 2112 Group, said in a statement released with the findings. “The complexity of certain technologies and sales will continue to necessitate partner involvement, but we believe sales of less-complex and commoditized products will transition to ADS channels.”
Of note for channel partners, the report points out that in The 2112 Group’s 2018 Channel Chief Outlook report 11 percent of channel executives said that marketplaces like Amazon are set to lead their indirect revenue by 2023. This sits behind MSPs at 39 percent, systems integrators at 17 percent and VARs at 17 percent. Significantly, marketplace revenue is predicted to be a higher revenue source by 2023 than master agents (six percent), DMRs/LARs (six percent) and ISVs (three percent).
“The day is coming when products and services that don’t require human sales and interaction will flow only through automated digital sales channels,” the report warns. “Digital sales aren’t simple or automatic. Implementing a digital sales channel doesn’t create new, incremental revenue; rather, it replaces declining revenue from existing channels.” …
Written by Jessica Meek
> Read the entire article, Automated Digital Sales Set to Grab Indirect Revenue From Channel, at channelnomics.com.


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Ladies Home Journal, which traces its roots back to 1883, is ending its run as a regular monthly magazine.
Editor-in-Chief Sally Lee and Publisher Diane Malloy, along with 33 staffers in New York where it is based, were laid off.
Owner Meredith Corp. is turning the title into a quarterly special interest magazine that will be published out of its Des Moines, Iowa, headquarters and sold only on newsstands.
“It’s not a consumer issue, it is an advertiser issue,” Meredith CEO Steve Lacy told analysts during the company’s earnings call on Thursday.
The magazine boasted 1,269.8 ad pages as recently as 2009. But it has suffered through four years of double-digit ad page declines, ravaged by the recession, competition from print and digital sites, and the changing tastes of women in the modern era.
Last year, ad pages dropped 17 percent to 614.6, according to Media Industry Newsletter. Ad pages tumbled another 19 percent, to 140 ad pages, through May.
LHJ also suffered from an aging readership — the median age of its readers was 57 years — that is not in the target of many advertisers, who migrated to newer, smaller circulation magazines, with lower ad rates.


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The Hyundai Genesis was introduced less than two years ago but the company is already working on a facelift for their upscale sedan.
Caught undergoing testing in California and Germany, the prototypes have a modestly revised front fascia and an updated grille. These are minor changes but the presence of an intercooler confirms the model will feature a turbocharged engine.
Nothing is official but previous reports have suggested the car will use either a twin-turbo 3.3- or 3.8-liter V6 engine that produces approximately 420 bhp (313 kW). This is the same amount as the company's 5.0-liter V8 which has led to speculation that it will be dropped from the lineup.
Our spies also managed to snap some interior photos but the cabin appears to carryover untouched. However, the model is still in the early stages of development so that could change by the time the production model arrives in a year or two.


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GNC Holdings Thursday said it will sell and refranchise 84 of its stores to one of its franchisees, Sun Holdings, a move that will garner some $17 million. The supplements retailer said it aims to sell a total of 200 company-owned stores this year and another 1,000 in total over the next several years.
GNC also said that Q1 same store sales fell 2.6% in domestic company-owned stores, including web sales, and dropped 5.6% across franchise-owned stores.
GNC CEO Michael Archbold noted in a press release that sales were hit by the company’s need to heavily discount supplements to get them off the shelves before they expired—something that Bloomberg called a metaphor for the industry.
With little convincing science behind the effects or benefits of many supplements—indeed, with some research saying that, for already healthy people, they do little—much of their appeal is based on largely untested claims, a situation that prompted a New York Times headline to once blare, "Don't take your vitamins."
Worse, there's increasing worry that they could actually do harm. Last year New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent cease-and-desist letters to GNC and other retailers over what he called inaccurate labeling and quality issues. GNC worked out a settlement with his office in March.
But belief in the benefits of supplements is easily shaken if people think they’re buying inert, allergenic or potentially harmful substances, as Schneiderman's office claimed. In any case, consumers have been buying fewer supplements. That mess has been compounded by a cut to GNC’s marketing budget, which CEO Archbold said has been refocused.
“We are not pleased with the reported results for the quarter and find them unacceptable,” he said in a statement. “While we are making progress on our strategic evolution which we started in 2014, the turnaround is taking longer than expected and the progress is insufficient. Our number one priority is our vitamin business and the steps we need to take to grow same store sales in this category through new promotions and a renewed marketing focus. In addition, we are reducing the significance of aged inventory, optimizing our assortment and training store associates to emphasize the vitamin solution to our customers."
GNC has about 9,000 locations nationwide, with about 2,000 of those locations within Rite Aid stores. Speaking on GNC's first-quarter conference call Thursday morning, Archbold told analysts the company is seeing strong interest in divestiture from both new franchisees and existing partners, the Pittsburgh Business Times reports.
GNC CFO Tricia Tolivar said the company has 17 letters of intent to sell additional company-owned stores during the second quarter. "Many of those are existing franchisees," Tolivar said.


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Leah Thomas, the blogger behind Green Girl Leah and a Patagonia employee, is reluctant to call herself an influencer — so much so that she recently took a four-month hiatus from Instagram to “re-strategise” how she uses the platform. While both her blog and her Instagram account focus on sharing sustainable fashion and green beauty tips, she felt conflicted about recommending products. “I had an internal struggle because, even though I only write about eco-friendly companies, I was still receiving press packages with stuff that I didn’t need,” she tells us. Her first step towards change was to start asking more questions, something that, she says, led a popular athletic company to “ghost” her after she asked what sustainability and diversity initiatives it had in place.
This struggle of how to influence positively is not a new one. Last year, Pope Francis even tweeted that the Virgin Mary was the first “influencer”. However, throughout history, the word “influence” hasn’t been commonly associated with inherent goodness, appearing in a quarter of William Shakespeare’s plays, according to the New Yorker, as a condition that is most often not dignified. While celebrities and social elites have always carried a level of influence or power, the invention of social media has allowed anyone with access to a smartphone the ability to cultivate their own community.
The term “influencer” is not only a commonly used one, it describes a legitimate career choice in this day and age. As Instagram continues to thrive off consumer culture and is now more shoppable than ever, companies are investing heavily in influencer marketing. A Business Insider Intelligence research report predicts that companies will be spending up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022, a rise from an estimated $8 billion in 2019. Considering our current climate and ecological crisis, an increase in Instagram influencers continuing to push us towards a “buy more” purchasing mentality is an inherently unsustainable model. While the 2017 Federal Trade Commission guidelines dictate that influencers have to be more transparent about their corporate relationships, there is a clear moral dilemma.
We’ve seen Kim Kardashian West’s former assistant Stephanie Shepherd balance being a luxury tastemaker and influencer with her online activism. As a plastic-free columnist at Poosh and half of Future Earth, a platform aimed to guide people into living “clean, active and informed” lives, Stephanie flip flops between posting sustainability advice (like informing people about the microplastics in our laundry) and her more traditional influencer duties, such as sponsored posts. While her activism work is inspiring, the contrast between the two sides at play raises the question of whether a “sustainable influencer” can really exist.
With this in mind, 19-year-old sustainable fashion advocate Tolmeia Gregory, aka Tolly Dolly Posh, whose feed consists mostly of protest pictures, would prefer to be called an activist that utilises social media. Through her sustainable fashion blog, GIF stickers, and Instagram filters, she hopes to get people talking about the climate crisis and, while she’s gaining a loyal following, she doesn’t relate to the influencer label, and her followers agree. Tolmeia recently asked her followers in a poll what they would call her, with 87 per cent voting that she would be called an activist rather than an influencer, she says.
“It’s possible to be a sustainable influencer if we approach what that means from a different angle. If it means being an educator and an activist, then sure. Most of the ‘sustainable influencers’ I follow do both,” she says. “They tackle the climate crisis head-on, even if they do occasionally sell a product here and there. I think the big difference is they’re not afraid to tell the truth about what’s happening in the world.” Tolmeia says she hasn’t accepted gifted clothing in almost a year, and is calling for a “transition for influencers”, to recognise the current state of the climate crisis. “People aren’t pointing fingers because you’ve personally caused the climate crisis, they’re pointing fingers because we all need to play our part in turning the system around,” she says.
For London-based art director and stylist Zeena Shah, her online sustainability focus also doesn’t fit under the category of being an “influencer.” Instead, she uses the platform to share her work, some of which involves daily outfit posts that show how matching colours and layering can allow you to wear items more than once. “The most sustainable thing you can do is to keep things in your wardrobes and make sure you are wearing them,” says Zeena. “Don’t get me wrong, I love shopping and buying new things, but it is about need versus want and sharing what I’m learning along the way.”
While many in the online sustainable fashion space are ready to shed their association with being an “influencer”, one research affiliate at the Centre on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania, Emily Hund, argues that it has become inescapable. In an interview with Fast Company, she says the ecosystem that has grown around the influencer affects us all – and that the internet makes influencers of those who “don’t aspire to influence”.
It’s also something that younger generations are increasingly aspiring to. A recent report found that nearly three quarters of Gen Z and millennials in the US follow influencers on social media, with the majority saying they trust influencers more than their favourite celebrities. It also found that 86 per cent of Gen Z and millennials surveyed would post sponsored content for money, and 54 per cent would become an influencer given the opportunity. This desire to be seen as having influence perhaps explains the surge of influencers posting fake sponsored content.
As much as we detest inauthentic content, it seems the majority of us either want whatever product or lifestyle the influencer is showing us, or want to be the influencer themselves. For journalist and director Sophia Li, that’s why mental health, self-awareness, and sustainability go hand in hand. Her Instagram tackles a broad spectrum of topics in sustainability, from the perceptions of other cultures, to mass consumption, to what is and isn’t recyclable. She also uses the platform to shed a light on ecological disasters, like Australia’s recent bushfires. “I use [Instagram] to have others question why they want ‘more,’” she says. “Is it because it’s ingrained into us to be consumers? Are we trying to fill a void with material items? Are we validating ourselves with a moving target of mindless consumption?”
Sophia doesn’t claim or appear to live an entirely sustainable life because, as humans, that notion is impossible. Sustainable fashion retail and marketing consultant Emma Slade Edmondson agrees. While her Instagram is full of thrifted and rented outfit inspiration, she’s transparent about this being something she does most of the time, but not all of the time. “Sustainability is a journey we are all on,” Emma explains. “There is so much at stake in terms of the way we currently operate and the damage it is doing to both people and the planet.”
This willingness to learn rejects the idea of perfection in the sustainable fashion space, and instead positions Instagram “influencers” as activists sharing their own environmental journey and findings. “In terms of my social media platforms, I never want to think of what I do as selling, but rather as providing information that can be quite stressful to take in in a digestible, non-judgmental way, or as more of a ‘show’ than a ‘tell,’” says Emma.
This article first appeared at TeenVogue.com.
More from British Vogue…


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COLOGNE, Germany — spoga+gafa, the world’s largest trade show for gardening, outdoor furniture, equestrian and barbecues, was held last month in Cologne, Germany. The historic city’s fair complex alongside the Rhine drew 40,000 people domestically and from abroad. It featured the latest trends in outdoor living, furniture and tools, urban gardening and grilling, spread over an incredible 2.5 million square feet of exhibition space.
Hardlines was there and we saw new products ranging from children’s outdoor play sets to innovative garden products for small spaces and indoor living, as well as the latest grilling and outdoor cooking technology. We also met some vendors looking for entry into the Canadian market. (Contact me directly for more info.—MIchael)
(Click here to take a tour of the new products at spoga+gafa, courtesy of Hardlines!)


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Articles tagged with: Google Nexus
This year’s tablet derby entries are at the starting gate, because some of the big players (Microsoft and Google have decided to field their own tablet entrants. We are not sure if that Microsoft’s Surface or Google Nexus 7 is necessarily a direct competitor with the Apple iPad, but they are three tablets fighting for market share and you might want to know the spec difference between them, which is why we’ve put this article together.
Surface for Windows RT
OS: Windows RT (aka, Windows on ARM)
Display: 10.6-inch HD Display.
Chip: Nvidia Tegra.


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VELO is excited to announce an expansion of its nicotine pouch product line. Twenty four new styles, eight new flavors, and the nicotine strengths you’ve been asking for, including 7mg. Coming soon to shop.velo.com!
Explore all new VELO flavors.
Eight new exciting flavors are coming your way in addition to our Citrus and Mint 2mg and 4mg flavors.


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With an intention to get rid of gender bias, Apple is including two new voices to Siri’s English choices moreover eradicating the default “female voice” choice within the newest beta model of iOS.
The newest replace will enable iPhone and iPad customers to select their most well-liked Siri voice throughout machine setup.
According to a TechCrunch report, this can be a optimistic step ahead because it permits folks to select the voice that they like with out the defaults bias coming into play.
“We’re excited to introduce two new Siri voices for English speakers and the option for Siri users to select the voice they want when they set up their device,” Apple stated in a press release on Wednesday (March 31).
“This is a continuation of Apple’s long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion, and products and services that are designed to better reflect the diversity of the world we live in,” it added.
In 2019, a report by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) revealed that assigning feminine genders to virtual assistants bolstered unfavourable gender biases.
The report discovered that through the use of a feminine voice for AI-powered assistants, gender stereotypes have been being perpetuated.
“Companies like Apple and Amazon, staffed by overwhelmingly male engineering teams, have built AI systems that cause their feminized digital assistants to greet verbal abuse with catch-me-if-you-can flirtation,” the report said.
“Because the speech of most voice assistants is female, it sends a signal that women are … docile and eager-to-please helpers, available at the touch of a button or with a blunt voice command like ‘hey’ or ‘OK’,” it added.
The two new voices additionally convey some much-needed selection to the voices of Siri.
The two new voices use supply expertise recordings which can be then run by means of Apple’s Neural textual content to the speech engine. The new voices can be found to English-speaking customers world wide and Siri customers can choose a private desire of voice in 16 languages.
More variety in voice, tone and regional dialect can solely be a optimistic growth for a way inclusive good gadgets really feel, the report stated.


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London, UK 2nd April 2017 One of the UK’s world-class datacentres has announced the creation of a brand new, state-of-the-art Point of Presence (PoP) in a bid to improve server latency and bring their customer’s content into the heart of the UK’s internet core. Clouvider has confirmed it will be opening a new PoP at Telehouse North 2 in London on 15th April 2017, extending its network there and providing dedicated server, colocation and cloud services on top of its network services such [...]
21st March 2017 London Hosting provider Clouvider Limited announces that Juniper and Hardware UK are to deliver the hardware required for their network upgrades. --- Leading UK web host Clouvider Limited has announced the identity of the companies tasked with delivering its latest network upgrades. Leading global network hardware manufacture Juniper Networks and its partner Hardware UK will provide MX480 and MX240 routers which will allow Clouvider to grow their own services portfolio and attract new clients. The network upgrade will allow for MPLS and VPLS [...]
Clouvider, the UK-based cloud hosting and dedicated server provider, has announced its new membership of the London Internet Exchange (LINX), the global leader of internet exchange points and international peering. The decision to join LINX, which comprises some 690 members connecting from over 66 different countries worldwide, comes as Clouvider responds to an unprecedented new wave of client wins over the first half of 2016. Clients already enjoy the benefits of enterprise class servers built for intensive use which are housed [...]
Cloud hosting and server provider, Clouvider Ltd, has announced that it will be introducing a new generation of high performance dedicated servers in its London datacentre. The servers make use of Intel's Xeon E3 v5 processors and offer a leap forward in terms of performance when compared with previous models. A spokesperson for Clouvider said, "We are delighted to be among the first Cloud Service Providers in the UK to offer the latest Intel Xeon E3 v5 platforms. This will [...]
MyClouvider 2.0 is here! We are commited to continuously improving our services. Today we are thrilled to present MyClouvider 2.0. The newest version of our customer portal with its new design and some great features is faster and easier to use. We'll also be releasing new services and improvements to our very own in-house Cloud platform, so make sure to keep an eye on our website, newsletter and twitter feed to be the first one to know!
Clouvider has now cut the Web Hosting in Cloud prices. Our great new offer now starts from just £2.50 a month! Our Cloud Web Hosting service is based on our state-of-the-art Cloud Platform. Your account can be easily managed in cPanel and is backed up daily. Customer's can use Website Creator and one click application installer free of charge. We are so confident of the reliability of our services that we are proud to offer 100% SLA on every hosting service. As with every [...]
Clouvider is now proud to accept Bitcoin as a payment method for any goods and services sold. Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is the latest way to pay! To pay using bitcoin as a new customer please select it during checkout. If you are an existing customer you can change the payment method of an unpaid invoice by opening it and selecting Bitcoin from the list in the top right corner. Please contact us for more information.


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Budweiser has just released their 2014 Super Bowl #BestBuds commercial and it's probably the happiest thing you'll see all day--maybe even all week!
The video was posted on YouTube earlier today and already has over 1.4 million views, which we think will grow exponentially over the next couple of hours.
In the commercial, one of the beer company's signature Clydesdales meets a new four-legged friend, but when they get separated, he goes on a mission to be reunited with his little buddy and it's all kinds of irresistible.
Check out the video above to see ...we dare you not to consider getting
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Gallery | Celebrity Pets: They're Even Cuter Than Their Owners


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Things to look for in 2017 include progress on faster payments in the United States, greater regulatory scrutiny of FinTech here and abroad, and blockchain use cases put into action. FinTech firms will continue to shake up the way consumers invest, insure, and conduct transactions—and card payments will continue to rule.
2017 is almost here! With the end of 2016 comes a wave of grand predictions for next year. As President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House and selects his cabinet members, the future of banking regulations remains uncertain, which could lead banks and FinTech firms to polish current service offerings rather than create new ones.
When you have something particularly wonderful to introduce, I believe the introduction should be as short as possible. Below please find EconVue’s 2017 Forecast. Our mission has been to bring you the unconventional voices you should be listening to about changes in the global economy. Thirteen of our EconVue experts share their views on what will be happening in 2017 in energy, health care, fintech, emerging and developed markets, regulation, and especially, in Washington DC.
This is a piece from Carole Basri, an adjunct professor at both Fordham University Law School and Peking University Law School. She discusses the changes that general counsels and compliance officers should be aware under the new Trump administration since there is a potential for a change in several areas including the following:
1. There will probably be a simplification of existing regulations.
Investors will have to wait and see whether President-elect Donald Trump delivers on campaign promises that range from massive deregulation in the financial sector to trade protectionist actions to make America great again. However certain is that the new administration will emphasize fiscal tools that range from tax cuts to infrastructure spending to stimulate the US economy.
As the year quickly comes to a close, news this week takes a step back to assess the impact of APIs on the financial sector, more emerging insurance trends, and FinTech’s impact on the underbanked and unbanked populations in the U.S. and abroad. We also learned that consumers are waking up to digital banking options, but contrary to the push towards digital everything, people still like cash and plastic cards over mobile wallets. Take a look at these insights and more in this week’s FinTech Rising round-up.


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ASX-listed game developer Animoca Brands has secured the rights to develop mobile apps for DreamWorks Animation's suite of brands, including turning Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon into e-books for Asian markets.
The deal is expected to generate multi-millions of dollars of revenue for the company, which last month acquired Finnish gaming business TicBits for $5.4 million.
Despite being listed in Australia, Animoca Brands is headquartered in Hong Kong, and chief executive Robby Yung said the DreamWorks brands would be a good fit for Asian countries.
"The focus for these books will be Turkey to Japan, down to Indonesia. We wanted to focus on this market because we think firstly that we understand it well ... but also that these Hollywood animated brands will perform best because they're generally loved ... across a diverse array of countries," he said.
"Also, thinking about the biggest markets in the world for mobile, China is first, followed by the US, but after that it's Japan and Korea and you just keep going across Asia."
The business, which has created branded mobile games such as Garfield and Ben 10, only added e-books to its strategy in December 2015 and it's due to release its first book, centred on Thomas and Friends, in the coming months.
Thomas and Friends will take on a subscription model, which will allow the company to have a recurring revenue stream, but Mr Yung said the company was likely to experiment with different payment models for the DreamWorks e-books.
"There are two models with e-books, subscription or pay-per-download or per number of titles. I suspect we'll have a combination of the two," he said.
"You can definitely expect the products in the first quarter of next year, but given the excitement around the Trolls movie, we'll work our hardest to possibly get a Trolls e-book into the market by Christmas."
The $36 million company was founded at the start of the mobile app craze in 2010 by experienced tech industry executives Yat Siu and David Kim in Hong Kong, before doing a backdoor listing on the ASX in January 2015.
In April, Animoca Brands raised $6.5 million through an institutional placement in its largest capital raise to date. This raise brought its total capital raised to $16.2 million in four tranches since listing.
The business is currently trading around 17¢, but a survey of analysts on Bloomberg revealed an average 12-month price target of 42¢ and a 100 per cent buy rating.
In the 2015 financial year to December 31, Animoca recorded $7.5 million in revenue, on a net loss of $2.9 million, which was a reduction of 63 per cent on FY14 thanks to a one-off transaction cost.
Mr Yung said he would like to secure more deals like the one with DreamWorks, but not in the immediate future.
"Frankly, this will keep our hands very busy. We have a lot of obligations now to deliver products with these great brands, so we won't be rushing to bring on any new ones yet," he said.
Mr Yung anticipated that more gaming companies would develop branded content strategies since the success of PokemonGo.
"People love brands. They resonate with them in all sorts of fashions ... so I think they'll be leveraged more across all sorts of media," he said.
"[For gaming companies] the first order of business is that the development team needs to understand the 'brand bible'... usually our team are already fans of the brand, which makes it easier, but you have to get into the mindset of the brand to understand what fans love and then focus on being able to deliver that through the product."
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Russia Suspends Use of Genetically Modified Corn – Wall Street Journal
Russia Suspends Use of Genetically Modified Corn. Russia’s consumer-rights watchdog said on Tuesday it has suspended the import and use of a genetically engineered corn made by Monsanto Co. following a study’s findings that suggested the crop might cause cancer.
The consumer-rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said the country’s Institute of Nutrition has been asked to assess the validity of the study.
The study, conducted by France’s University of Caen and published last week, found that rats fed over a two-year period with the U.S. crop-biotechnology company’s genetically modified NK603 corn, marketed under the Roundup Ready brand name, developed more tumors and other severe diseases than a test group fed with regular corn.


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Supermarkets in NZ using facial recognition tech 14 May Customs and Border Protection is testing and hopes to expand the use of biometric scanners at airports across the U. For instance, it has been suggested that the technology could be used to identify high-spending customers when they are in store, to make sure they get special attention. While such technology does exist, the bulk of businesses using cameras in their marketing displays actually employ an app like IMRSV for Marketers , which does facial detection of customers interacting with the display. New technologies present governments, businesses, and advertisers the chance to further erode your privacy.
Facial Scanning Now Arriving At U.S. Airports
I asked Kuharenko his thoughts about the use of electronic billboards embedded with facial recognition tech. Some firms who provide facial detection software to retailers claim that they can use it to help with facial recognition. Apparently they used a system that kept the photographic records. Governments around the world have begun experimenting with FRS in law enforcement, military, and intelligence operations. There are many contexts in which this law enforcement technology has already been brought to bear. With the enactment of H.
Brave New World: Ticketmaster to Roll Out Facial Recognition, Sparking Privacy Concerns
Cato's Feeney said a meaningful move would be to "purge these databases of anyone who isn't currently incarcerated or wanted for violent crime. Danny Bradbury Danny Bradbury is a technology journalist with over 20 years' experience writing about security, software development, and networking. The first AI system was tasked with identifying facial features from a set of several hundred photos, and the second algorithm was responsible for altering the photos to the point that they no longer looked like faces to the first. If a picture paints a thousand words, facial recognition paints two: She said that using CCTV for deterrance is usually the best bet, and that people finding out Foodstuffs is tracking their face could lead to "deterrence of customers generally". We'd love to know a bit more about our readers. While more accurate facial recognition is generally welcomed, civil liberties groups say specific policy safeguards should be in place.
Amazon Rekognition claims the ability to search and track people in real-time, using a many-millions deep database of faces, essentially automating law enforcement surveillance capabilities at an unprecedented scale. A woman reacts while setting up the facial recognition feature on her iPhone X inside an Apple showroom in Beijing on November 03, At most all they know about a particular face is that it may represent a year-old female, who shows signs of attention towards what they see. Essays on judicial independence Digital age reinforces the need for judiciary to act as a bulwark against tyranny The rise of dark money is a threat to judicial independence Trump's attacks on courts undermine judicial independence Online series Beyond my CEO role, as a black man, the severity of these claims is of major concern to me. And Pro Publica nearly won a Pulitzer for its reporting on how AI used by the justice system showed human bias against non-whites.


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Insider Selling: 5Am Partners Ii, Llc Sells 433,000 Shares of Relypsa Stock (RLYP)
Relypsa (NASDAQ:RLYP) major shareholder 5Am Partners Ii, Llc sold 433,000 shares of the stock on the open market in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.51, for a total transaction of $11,478,830.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.
Separately, analysts at Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Relypsa from $45.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Relypsa currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.50.
Shares of Relypsa (NASDAQ:RLYP) traded down 2.83% on Wednesday, hitting $25.77. 193,614 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. Relypsa has a one year low of $11.55 and a one year high of $52.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $24.59 and a 200-day moving average of $28.0. The company’s market cap is $876.1 million.
Relypsa (NASDAQ:RLYP) last released its earnings data on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.06. Analysts expect that Relypsa will post $-2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Relypsa, Inc is a pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of non-absorbed polymeric drugs to treat disorders in the areas of renal, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
Receive News & Ratings for Relypsa Inc Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Relypsa Inc and related companies with Analyst Ratings Network's FREE daily email newsletter.


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Next year, the Grand Cherokee will be returning and Jeep will be giving it a new look. While nothing has been confirmed by the carmaker yet, the actions of Mopar tell us everything we need to know.
The company have been designing concepts for Jeep for years now. Back then, two Cherokees have been announced and introduced. Now, they are showing the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
This ultimate ride is expected to be the main attraction at this year’s East Jeep Safari in Utah. Of course, it will be accompanied by three other wranglers in the market. The Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel Trail Warrior will come in Mojave Sand colour, Jeep’s performance parts and Mopar’s accessories.
Inside the ride, the vehicle will be covered in black and tan, all-weather floor mats, door sills, a pedal kit, cargo tray and a lighted Jeep logo sill.


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Jodi Bridal Show is a Toronto-based South-Asian bridal magazine that caters particularly to Indo-Canadians. Its latest cover, pictured above, has been receiving lots of angry comments on their Facebook page because you can see the model’s legs through a slit in her outfit.
It looks like the people posting angry comments were angry at either one of two things: that showing female legs on a magazine cover destroys Tamil culture, or that Tamil brides don’t actually dress like that on their wedding day.
The model in the picture, Thanuska Subramaniam, said to Now Toronto that there was “so much Tamil female talent behind this cover”, which makes it clear that it isn’t a case of cultural appropriation. People just genuinely seemed to believe that a pair of legs could destroy Tamil culture. Happily though, there were plenty of others on hand to express how stupid that idea is, and who were more than ready to post their views on social media too.
As for Tamil brides not really dressing like that, well, um, we know. Very few high fashion wedding dresses actually make it into a real person’s wedding day.


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FACTS & FIGURES: Days after its spring fashion show, Chanel’s finances were under scrutiny in the French press. Le Monde in its Saturday edition, citing data uncovered by Challenges magazine, said since the start of this year, the French fashion house has invested 270 million euros, or $337.9 million at current exchange, in real estate, of which 85 percent was in Paris. This was principally to acquire ownership of its stores.
Last year, Chanel posted net profits of 726 million euros, or $964.2 million, versus 1.13 billion euros, or $1.5 billion, in 2012, which included an exceptional capital gain of 496 million euros, or $658.7 million, according to Challenges.
The magazine reported Chanel’s operating profits for 2013 were 1.15 billion euros, or $1.53 billion, up 8.5 percent versus 2012. Meanwhile, company sales also gained 8.5 percent, to 4.98 billion euros, or $6.61 billion, in 2013.
A Chanel spokeswoman had no comment. Dollar figures are converted at average exchange for the period to which they refer.


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Take Your Television Experience To The Next Level With Sony Android TV
A few weeks ago, we were invited to attend the launching of Sony Philippines latest line of smart and innovative televisions with the new 4k and Full HD TVs. Sony has once again takes the big leap in sound and home entertainment technology with these latest TVs which has an Android OS in it.
The new 4K model televisions and Full HD Series of Sony is supported by Google's latest Android TV operating system which allows users to easily watch streaming videos. It can also be used as a gaming device with enhanced features for a full interactive Android experience. The latest Android TV operating system indeed offers user interface with numerous entertainment options for a more immersive viewing experience.
Aside from that, the new Bravia 4k TVs come with the new 4K Processor X1 that provides clarity, color accuracy and contrast, which all contributes to a better Sony 4K viewing experience.
With the new Sony Bravia Full HD line up, it is specifically designed to cater to a versatile home entertainment lifestyle. So, why don't you take your viewing and cinematic experience to a whole new level and upgrade your Bravia TV now!
The new Bravia 4K and Full HV TVs are now available in Sony Centers and authorized dealers. You can also visit the Sony Center here in CDO at the 3rd Floor of Centrio Ayala Mall. For more information visit sony.com.ph or like facebook.com/SonyPhilippines or follow them in Twitter @SonyPHinc.


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A new study, "How Enterprises and their Trading Partners Gain from Global Trade Automation: A New Process Model for the China-U.S. Trade Lane," by Stanford University and TradeBeam, a provider of SaaS-based Global Trade Management solutions, provides estimates in key benefit categories, based on input from supply chain practitioners from the U.S. and China.
Based on more than a year of research, the results demonstrate that companies stand to gain dramatically by implementing global trade best practices and accompanying automation, enabling improvement in profitability from 10-40% or more, as well as delivering significant improvements in other benefit categories, such as cycle times.
A key result of the study is a new global trade process model which enables enterprises and their trading partners to systematically analyze trade lanes, and find and eliminate inefficiencies. The initial model focuses on the China-U.S. trade lane, but can be applied in other geographic and industry contexts.
"This report demonstrates that companies can gain substantially by automating their global supply chains, probably much more than they have estimated to date," said Warren Hausman, Professor of Operations Management in the Department of Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University. "By creating a new process model attuned to global trade, we hope to help companies make improvements that will help them thrive in the global economy not just with short term gains, but over the long term as well."
To review the full study visit: http://tradebeam.com/landing/stanfordpaper-200912.shtml


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Arvest Bank has commissioned a large-scale consumer sentiment survey to measure and report the economic expectations and outlook of consumers in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The survey will measure respondents’ opinions on their state’s economy for a comparison to the national Surveys of Consumers conducted by the University of Michigan for Thomson/Reuters. Conducted twice a year, the Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey results will be shared with local media outlets and Arvest business customers.
The bank has commissioned four universities — the University of Arkansas, Missouri State University, the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University — for the survey.
The Arvest Bank Consumer Sentiment Survey, which measures the level of optimism on the state of the economy reflected by consumers’ activities of saving and spending, will be designed for direct comparison with the Thomson/Reuters Michigan survey.
The nationally representative Thomson/Reuters Michigan survey is reported on a monthly basis and is based on telephone interviews of households. It is included by the United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis as a factor in determining the Composite Index of Leading Indicators, a tool used by many economists to judge what is going to happen in the near future. Manufacturers, retailers, banks and the government monitor changes in consumer sentiment to factor the data in their decision-making processes.
The Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) at the Sam M. Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is leading the research team and The University of Oklahoma’s Public Opinion Learning Laboratory (POLL) will conduct the telephone surveys. CBER, Missouri State University and Oklahoma City University will analyze state level data and provide local analysis of the findings.
CBER director Kathy Deck will be the lead researcher for the project and will provide evaluation and guidance for results within Arkansas. David Mitchell, director of the Bureau of Economic Research at Missouri State University, and Russell Evans, director of the Steven C. Agee Economic Research & Policy Institute at Oklahoma City University, will evaluate results for their respective states.
The first Arvest Bank Consumer Sentiment Survey data should be ready for public release in Spring 2014 after the survey is conducted in February. The next survey results will be released at the end of the third quarter.
The survey is designed to measure three primary indices mirroring the national Thomson/Reuters Michigan Surveys of Consumers. Those indices are: Index of Consumer Sentiment; Index of Consumer Expectations; and Current Conditions Index.
“The University of Arkansas is pleased to work with Arvest in this endeavor that we feel will provide an incredibly valuable tool for consumers, businesses and policymakers within each of the three states to be surveyed,” Deck added. “Adding this local, state-level data to the national consumer sentiment information is an important step for our research center and we are excited to partner with both Arvest and the other researchers to provide a statistically significant snapshot of consumer sentiment to the publics we all serve.”
The survey will have a sample size of 1,200 with 400 respondents from each state and a margin of error of 4.2 percent at the state level.


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May 23, 2013 iPhone users have reportedly spent $6 billion since 2007 to repair or replace their damaged phones, and repair costs are only getting more expensive.
Stacey Vanek Smith
May 22, 2013 Not all of Apple's untaxable billions are overseas. Some are held right here in the U.S., protected because the accounts are foreign owned. Welcome to the tax-shelter island otherwise known as Manhattan.
May 23, 2013 Senator Carl Levin says big companies are abusing tax loopholes. Apple's Tim Cook says they uphold the spirit of the law.
May 21, 2013 Apple’s $100 billion in overseas cash is just part of the nearly $2 trillion in U.S. corporate funds that are beyond the reach of the IRS. What difference could that money make if it was brought home?
May 21, 2013 Apple CEO Tim Cook tries to answer the $1.7 trillion question: How does the U.S. get corporations to repatriate their overseas profits?
May 17, 2013 The new face of debt is young and worried. Student loans affect nearly 15 million Americans under the age of 30 and many debtors are facing tens of thousands of dollars in repayment.
May 7, 2013 U.S. News & World Report has released its first-ever rankings of the 'Best Online Education Programs for Veterans'. A look at the market and the sometimes predatory companies taking advantage of vets.
May 1, 2013 The hidden side the unemployment numbers? Folks with advanced degrees are climbing down the ladder.
Apr 29, 2013 Ever since New York City banned electronic devices in public schools, a cottage industry has emerged: Charging kids a dollar a day to hold their phones during class.


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Every week, find the digest of cryptocurrency news by Yo Crypto.
This week, we start with the return of 17 million Optimism tokens!
On June 8th, following a Wintermute error (layer 1 instead of layer 2) the 20 million tokens ended up on an unknown wallet and were then recovered by a hacker. The hacker finally decided to return 17 million of the 20 tokens.
He decided to keep 2 million, one of which he sold for eth.
The last one was sent to Ethereum founder Vitalik who returned them to Optimism as well.
The well-known broker Etoro with more than 27 million users has just received its registration as a digital service provider from the AMF.
As a result, it is now one of only 38 companies that are registered.
Etoro will therefore be able to offer its French users the possibility of buying and selling digital assets in full compliance.
Following the fall that the crypto assets market is experiencing, some business models and companies are in trouble. Indeed, the crypto lending platform Celsius had to temporarily suspend its withdrawals, transfers and swaps to maintain liquidity.
The giant Nexo has therefore seized the opportunity to make an offer to buy some of the assets of its competitor Celsius (see the tweet)
The giant Mastercard has announced in an official statement that it wants to facilitate the NFT purchase process via credit card payment solutions. The company, which had decided to seize the opportunities of web 3.0, shows once again its avant-garde side.
In addition, its vice-president also insisted on the company's intentions to get involved in Web 3.0.
It's official, Lacoste is launching its first nft collection and entering the web 3.0 ecosystem. It is called UNDW3 and will allow people to participate in the brand's artistic decisions. A server discord is already available and whitelists for the pre-mint are available until 13 June.


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The extreme cost of cigarettes is having a disastrous consequence
The price of cigarettes is continuing to skyrocket in Australia and it’s having an unintended and disastrous consequence.
Smokers will now pay up to $48 for a single pack, the largest increase in inflation numbers of any product.
Whilst is has resulted in a decrease in smoking numbers, we’re now being told it’s caused an increase in crime around tobacco.
Australasian Association of Convenience Stores CEO Jeff Rogut tells Janine Perrett people are now targetting convenience stores more than ever.
“There’s absolutely no doubt that criminals, because of the high value of tobacco, are almost targetting tobacco first and then, if they have time, will take cash.
“It really is putting staff in danger.”
Click PLAY below to hear the full interview


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Beatport has just released a statement verifying that they will be shutting down a few of their platforms and even their streaming service on May 13, 2016. In addition, Beatport News and the events section of the home page will be taken down as well. The company feels they have diverged and lost focus from a quality network and want to focus on what is essentially important to their loyal customers: new, fresh, music.
Beatport also wants to progress and to keep improving their online store, which is now running over 50 percent faster. The most used features in their online store includes track, releases, artists and genre pages.
The following statement was released on their site:
“For over 12 years, the Beatport Store has served DJs and the electronic music community. As a new generation of artists, performers, and sounds develop and grow, inspired by the leaders of today and the past, the Beatport Store will continue to be there to support the music and inspire the community.”
We’re still uncertain who will place the winning bid for the EDM giant at the end of this month, but this news definitely has us wondering what exactly is in store for their future.
UPDATE (6:54 p.m. EST): We’ve just received word that Beatport will also be shutting down its distribution company, Baseware Distribution. We encourage everyone to check out our parent company, Symphonic, as they are currently offering a record labels an unbeatable deal. Labels who sign up for distribution through Symphonic will receive:
- 90% of all royalties
- No sign-up fee
- No threshold


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Gene Levoff who happens to be the former Apple lawyer has been indicted on insider trading charges. The USA attorney from New Jersey cleared it through a statement made in a press release that Gene has been charged for using his inside information from Apple for trading Apple stock.
Gene even had access to the financial results before publication and used the same information to trade Apple stock. According to the sources, Levoff is currently facing six counts of securities fraud along with six counts of wire fraud.
In February, SEC had released the lawsuit against Gene for his involvement in the insider trading fraud in a civil case. Last Thursday, the further accusations cleared that each count that Gene has been charged for carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Plus, it also carries fines.
The press release stated, “This scheme to defraud Company-1 and its shareholders allowed Levoff to realize profits of approximately $227,000 on certain trades and to avoid losses of approximately $377,000 on others.”
The Statement also made it lucid that Levoff bought large quantities of stock after discovering that Company-1 had posted strong revenue and net profit for a given financial quarter. And, he sold those stocks for huge profit when the market reacted to the news.
The indictment also alleged that the trading was done by Levoff in the time of the “blackout” period. During the blackout period, employees aren’t allowed to buy or sell stocks. It has also been clarified that the Gene had informed employees of Apple about the blackout period while he was trading the Apple stocks.
The last statement Apple made was in February when it reported, “After being contacted by authorities last summer we conducted a thorough investigation with the help of outside legal experts, which resulted in termination.”
This time, Apple has declined to say anything related to the case.
However, Kevin Marino, lawyer of Levoff mentioned in his comment, “We look forward to vigorously defending Mr. Levoff with respect to these allegations.”


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Buying Australian says ‘yes’ to local jobs
Supporting Australian jobs is in the hands of Australian consumers. That’s the message BioBag World Australia’s Production Manager Chris wants to share. He’s encouraging Australians to support businesses like BioBag by choosing Australian made products.
“If Australians want jobs, then we need to ask where our products are coming from. We need to increase our support for Australian made,” Chris said. “I am proud of the manufacturing sector here in Australia. We make high quality products that bring value to our local economy and communities.”
“I am happy to pay a little bit extra to buy a product I know is supporting local jobs like mine. So please take the time to read the labels on products and see which state or country the products you choose were made in.”
Adelaide manufacturer Scott Morton supplies compostable bags to local councils for residents with food organics and garden organics recycling bins. The BioBag World Australia Director says the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted Australia’s reliance on overseas suppliers.
“This also causes problems if councils want to top up supplies because now they can’t source the bags they need as quickly as they could before the pandemic,” Scott said.
Benefits of buying local
“If you buy from a South Australian manufacturer, the energy used to make that product is helping to reduce the world’s carbon footprint,” said Mr McKenna.
“So next time you have a choice to buy local or imported, consider the confidence you gain by buying local… particularly in a period of increasing volatility in world supply chains.”
Scott Morton summarises the benefits of buying Australian made:
- “Every dollar spent on locally made products is a dollar that stays in Australia and goes towards local jobs, local taxes and local services.
- “Australian manufacturers can assure delivery of high-quality products without delays.
- “There is security in local supply chains that global supply chains can no longer deliver.”
Learn more about the plastic alternatives we’re making for local councils, supermarkets, cafes and households around Australia.
@AuManufacturing wrote a great article about our local manufacturing and challenges with support for Australian made products.


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For several months now, I’ve been writing about how challenging a year 2019 has been for the agricultural community. Weather issues delayed (or completely derailed) planting, the trade war with China kept commodity prices in the dumps, and grower-customer incomes fell once more (down under $50 billion, according to most informed sources).
Given these difficulties, no one would have been surprised if the nation’s leading ag retailers also took some serious financial hits. But that didn’t happen. In fact, I’ve just finished compiled our magazine’s annual CropLife 100 data (to appear in December, in print and online) and the numbers were quite positive. From 2018’s CropLife 100 revenues of more than $30 billion, the nation’s top ag retailers in 2019 were able to grow their overall sales into the $32 billion range.
I know when I recently presented some of these figures to a panel of industry experts, such positive numbers for ag retailers was met with more than just a little disbelief. However, this is the story the survey numbers are telling everyone.
As for why ag retailers were able to record sales gains during the challenging year that was in 2019, there are two possible explanations. One comes from the category of crop inputs that grew the fastest during the year – fertilizer. Hitting the $13.8 billion mark in 2019, the fertilizer category grew an impressive 13% from 2018.
The second reason is a bit more basic, and simpler to understand. It has to do with the number of outlets now represented by the CropLife 100. In 2018, there were 4,703 outlets spread out among the 100 largest ag retailers. But in 2019, this number increased to 4,942, a 5% increase. Indeed, this additional 239 locations could easily account for much of the overall market’s sales gains during 2019.
For more details on the 2019 CropLife 100 report, keep an eye out of the December issue of CropLife and regular postings on our website. Given the kind of year 2019 was for most of agriculture, there are some interesting dynamics going on among ag retailers!


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They’re still doing some construction work out front, but it looks like DGX, the new convenience/grocery store in the former Yao’s space at Main and Gayoso, is close to being open.
DGX is a Dollar General concept aimed at metropolitan city centers. From their website: “DGX stores offer a smaller retail footprint with a curated assortment of grab-and-go salads and sandwiches, home cleaning supplies, an expanded selection of health and beauty products, home décor, electronics, seasonal products, pet supplies, candies and snacks, paper products and more—all at everyday low prices that Dollar General is known for.” According to the website, the store’s hours will be 8 AM-10 PM.
Perjorie T. Roll and I tried one of Chef Steph’s burgers, the Swiss You Were Here, last night at the Blind Bear.
It comes with garlic peppercorn aioli, Swiss cheese, maple bacon, and A-1 candied shiitake mushrooms on an 80 special grind burger.
The DM’s Elle Perry has more information about The Inkwell, the new cocktail bar to open in The Edge. Owner Ben Colar wants it to be a place people can go to relax, not only from the pressures of work but from the pressures of the bar scene in Memphis. Looks like it will have a super nice outdoor patio.
From the Memphis Flyer: Salt | Soy is set to open in the Broad Avenue district next month. They’ve been doing booming business running their menu at Alchemy, and now that the stupid COVID restrictions are relaxing a bit, they are ready to move into a space of their own.
ESPN has a feature on how sports bars have struggled to stay open during a pandemic.
From the UK’s Daily Mail: Mike Pence and “Mother” are homeless after being ejected from the vice-president’s residence last week. They’ve been couch surfing.
From WREG: Shooting begins in South Main for ABC series set in the civil rights era
I did a story on this yesterday….. its basically being done on the honor system. The state would prefer you get vaccinated in your home county but its not required…and almost all other West TN counties are on 1B at this point.
— Jeni DiPrizio (@local24jeni) January 29, 2021
In Love Memphis got closed down by the Health Department again for COVID restriction violations.
That’s the news for today. Back tomorrow with more.


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Demand for buying gold jewelery dip in Egypt by 30% during the second quarter of 2015, compared to the same period last year
For his part, the “World Gold Council” that Egypt’s consumption of gold jewelery rate of 8 tons, compared with 11.4 tons in the period of comparison.
He drew the Council, to the decline in global demand for gold to its lowest level in six years, during the second quarter of this year, stressing that the largest buyers of gold are still avoid buying the precious metal with the approach of its price to its lowest level.
It is noteworthy that, India and China, the two largest gold consumer in the world, responsible for half of the decline in global demand, which stood at 914.9 tons.
It is noteworthy that, the global gold market received a painful blow during the current year, with the high price of the dollar, and increased expectations on the decision, “the US Federal Reserve Bank” to raise US interest rates, along with uncertainty that prevailed at the beginning of the Greek debt crisis in 2015.


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Phoseon Technology recently announced its acceptance as a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC). Phoseon has joined other companies within the coalition that are dedicated to creating more sustainable packaging that is good for the environment while being practical for people.
According to Phoseon, it is fully committed to the well-being of the environment and continuously works to reduce the environmental impact of the products that it manufactures. The company reports that its LED curing products provide significant energy savings, prevent pollution, and reduce waste. Collectively, Phoseon UV LED lamps have eliminated millions of pounds of CO₂ emissions.
"By joining the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, we are showing our commitment to manufacture environmentally sustainable products that save energy, eliminate greenhouse gases, and remove mercury waste from the UV curing process," said Bill Cortelyou, Phoseon president and CEO. "This membership emphasizes our ongoing dedication to support customers that are creating sustainable packaging."


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H&F to Acquire Cybersecurity Startup Checkmarx According to $1.15 Billion Valuation
The American private equity firm is buying Checkmarx from current owner Insight Partners, which acquired it in 2015 for $100 million
American private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) has agreed to buy Israel-based cybersecurity company Checkmarx Ltd. according to a valuation of $1.15 billion, the latter announced Monday. H&F will buy Checkmarx from its current owner, New York-based venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners, which will continue to own a substantial minority stake, the company said. Insight Partners bought a large stake in Checkmarx in 2015 for $100 million.
Founded in 2006 and based in central Israel, Checkmarx develops cybersecurity technology that automatically scans code to detect security breaches. The company’s founders are Emmanuel Benzaquen and Maty Siman. Checkmarx employs more than 700 people and reports over 1,400 customers in 70 countries. To date, the company has raised $92 million, according to Pitchbook data.
“With more corporations leveraging software development to scale their businesses than ever before, executives are acutely aware of the increased risks caused by software exposure. More than 40 of the Fortune 100 have turned to Checkmarx to mitigate risk, secure code, and embed security into every aspect of their software development,” Checmarx CEO Emmanuel Benzaquen said in a statement.
Checkmarx CEO Emmanuel Benzaquen (left) and Founder Maty Siman. Photo: PR
“This deal has been in the works for just a few weeks and closed in the early morning hours,” Benzaquen told Calcalist Monday. “I am very pleased this is happening, especially because we are unlikely to see deals like this in the near future. I hope it reflects a bit of optimism at a time like this since I assume that if they had believed this is the end of the world, they wouldn’t have paid $1 billion.”
According to Benzaquen, the deal reflects the best of both worlds. “I have made an exit, but the company is not going to lose its identity like it would have if sold to a company such as Microsoft or Google,” he said. “We will remain a private company, I have simply brought in more stakeholders.”


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Cheatsheet: Amazon’s ad revenue is still growing, but more slowly
Amazon announced its earnings results for the first quarter of 2019, shedding light on the progress for a series of strategic priorities.
But, in true Jeff Bezos fashion, there was plenty more to absorb outside the realm of retail business, including an anecdote about one of the recipients of the first Amazon Future Engineer scholarships. The company awarded 100 high school seniors a $40,000 scholarship as well as an Amazon internship. It’s a nice reminder, alongside updates on its streaming and film studios businesses, that Amazon’s imprint reaches far beyond Seller Central.
- Net sales increased 17% year-over-year to $59 billion in the first quarter.
- Online sales were up 10% year-over-year, to $29.5 billion.
- After dropping by 3% in the fourth quarter of 2018, physical store sales were up 1%, to $4.3 billion.
- Third-party seller services, which Amazon has been beefing up as it looks to its marketplace for high-volume growth, were up 23% over last year, to $11 billion.
- AWS maintained steady growth, despite growing competition from companies like Microsoft, Google and Shopify. Its revenue was up 42% over last year, to $7.7 billion.
- Amazon’s advertising revenue growth has slowed. This quarter, revenues totaled $2.7 billion, a year-over-year increase of 36%.
- Last quarter, the business broke $3 billion in revenue for the first time, and year-over-year growth had been consistently up by about 100% for the past four quarters.
What’s happening to Amazon’s ad business?
Amazon’s advertising business has a lot more of the market to steal if it wants to successfully make the duopoly a triopoly. Even though it’s grown tremendously for the past year, this quarter’s results show the early gold rush could be coming to an end as Amazon ad products are no longer the industry’s shiny new toy. According to Merkle’s Q1 2019 Digital Marketing Report, Facebook ad spend dipped by 2% under the same quarter last year, while paid search spend on Google also slowed to 16% year-over-year.
And, Amazon is still seeing growth in its self-serve ad products that are easy-to-reach boosters for sellers fighting the algorithm: Sponsored Products ad spend only grew 19% year-over-year, but Sponsored Brands spend grew by 77 percent over last year, another sign pointing to a priority for brands on Amazon’s marketplace.
Whole Foods is still stalling.
Amazon’s physical store sales only barely made it out of the red this quarter, and moves that the company’s made to drive revenue are costly: Amazon points out in the earnings release that Whole Foods prices went through its third round of cuts, as the retailer hopes to convince price-conscious Prime customers that the grocery store is no longer an expensive place to shop. Meanwhile, Amazon and Whole Foods are increasing the expansion of two-hour Prime grocery delivery through Whole Foods locations. In the past quarter, it brought the service to nine new cities, bringing the total to 75. That’s not going to be a cash cow any time soon.
Amazon’s spending to set sellers up for independence.
Amazon spent the last quarter shaking up the way sellers operate across its retail business. As smaller volume vendors got shepherded from Vendor Central to Seller Central, Amazon bulked up the tools available to sellers (at a fee) to let them run their businesses without Amazon’s help. In Q1, Amazon launched 50 new seller tools, and reminded readers in the earnings release that the company spends “billions” every year on such resources. Most importantly, earlier this year, Amazon quietly rolled out advanced customer analytics tools, like more detailed demographics, to sellers in the marketplace.
Subscribe to the Digiday Retail Briefing: An email with news, quotes and stats covering the modernization of retail and e-commerce, delivered three times per week.
Member Exclusive‘It is all DTC now’: VCs are eager to strike deals again
In March, the fundraising environment for direct-to-consumer startups was “downright frozen,” as Michael Duda, managing partner at hybrid accelerator agency and venture capital fund Bullish, put it. Now, March seems like a lifetime ago. Over the past six months, many direct-to-consumer startups in categories ranging from home improvement, health and wellness and food have struck […]
Member ExclusiveDTC brands are rethinking their ‘never-go-on-sale’ rule
DTC startups who have prided themselves on either never offering sales, or only offering them on Black Friday, are throwing their playbooks out the window.
Member ExclusiveAfter record sales, DTC startups are focusing on retention
Retention is an important focus for DTC startups year-round. But, with many customers buying some types products online for the first time during the pandemic, DTC startups have a unique opportunity to convince those first-time customers to stick with e-commerce.
SponsoredB2B events were broken before the pandemic, their online reinvention is creating positive change
Kim Darling, executive producer, Inbound Farewell lanyards, business cards and branded pens — it’ll be some time before people get their hands on these souvenirs of in-person events again. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to transform the way people work, buy, sell, socialize and entertain themselves, the global events industry is facing its biggest-ever challenge. […]
Member ExclusiveBy being too customer-obsessed, DTC startups are failing their retail employees
Despite their affinity for shirking traditional retail practices, there's one thing that direct-to-consumer brands can't shake off entirely: the belief that the customer is always right.
Member ExclusiveA domino effect: How USPS delays may hurt e-commerce startups
Every e-commerce business, from mom-and-pop shops all the way up to Amazon rely on the USPS in some way, Now, service delays threaten to destroy one of the backbones of e-commerce


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The videogame market's not only suffering from price fatigue, but music game fatigue as well, according to a report from Gamasutra.
Michael Pachter has issued a report which shows combined revenue from both Rock Band and Guitar Hero during February – June 2009 and it shows a 49 percent decrease in sales year on year, with Guitar Hero down 34 percent and Rock Band down 67 percent.
With discounted hardware and over 20 SKUs on the market, both have plenty of merchandise available to gamers, with the Guitar Hero franchise leading in that area.
Activision Blizzard has released over a dozen Guitar Hero titles from including the handheld version along with themed expansions. Guitar Hero 5 is currently scheduled for release in Fall 2009 and a Van Halen-centric one later in the year and of course, loads of new DLC through console services.
Currently, with different packaging and offerings, there are seven Rock Band titles on consoles or handhelds with The Beatles: Rock Band due September 2009. Harmoix tends to focus on DLC more so than new SKUs entering the market.
That's loads of plastic peripherals folks.
More through Gamasutra.


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The Chairman of Melcom Group of Companies, Bhagwan Ramchand Khubchandani has died at 84.
He died on on January 25, 2021.
The astute business mogul was awarded Ghana’s Greatest Entrepreneur of All Time at the last Ghana Entrepreneur and Corporate Executive Awards.
Under his watch, Melcom has progressed into six separate companies with an overarching name, Melcom Group of Companies.
With over 60 years of business experience in Japan, Hong Kong, Ghana and Nigeria, Bhagwan has carved a niche for himself in the hearts and minds of his clientele.
Bhagwan Khubchandani entered business at a very youthful age.
His father, who had at the time set up a buying agency in Hong Kong for his retail business, decided in 1954 to relocate him to manage his business there.
After three years in Hong Kong, Bhagwan moved to Japan where his father had also set up another agency.
Working in different countries like Hong Kong and Japan turned out to be an advantage for Bhagwan as his years of stint helped him widen his business acumen.
He returned to Ghana in 1961 and was made the Managing Director of Glamour Stores which he managed till 1991 when he decided to move on.
Bhagwan established his own business under the name of Melcom with a capital of $2,000,000.
He was then joined by his two sons-in-law and turned Melcom into the leading retail giant in Ghana.
Over the years, Melcom diversified into other businesses and expanded its product portfolio. These include Century Industries Limited which manufactures high-quality plastic household products, Crown Star Electronics Industry Limited, which assembles household appliances with a fully-fledged service centre.
Melcom Group is best known for its retail superstores, Melcom Limited.
As Ghana’s largest chain of 48 retail department stores and counting, Melcom offers thousands of products and hundreds of well-known brands.
GFA commiserates with Melcom over death of founder
Meanwhile, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has expressed condolences to its partner Melcom Ghana Limited on the passing of Bhagwan Ramchand Khubchandani, reports the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
The late Bhagwan Ramchand Khubchandani passed away on Monday, January 25, 2021, at the Nyaho Medical Centre in Accra after a short illness.
It would be recalled that in November 2020, the GFA announced Melcom as an official partner for a period of one football season.
The late Bhagwan Ramchand Khubchandani spent a larger part of his life in Accra, Ghana, spanning three decades.


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a separate group of users announced that on August 1st they will split from off from bitcoin and create a new cryptocurrency called Bitcoin Cash. But ICO in the real world is a very different thing, it stands for Initial Coin Offering. ICOs have so far raised.2 billion in 2017. As ever the price of bitcoin remains volatile and headline-worthy. ICOs are almost certainly here to stay. An ICO is really just a promise about the future of a cryptocurrency and the underlying technology. The main difference between Bitcoin Cash and bitcoin is the block size. Price is also a major talking point at present. However, it is all extremely new, there is a lot of hype and open to a number of threats as well as opportunities.
Inevitably the majority of them will fail, but many show great promise as we have seen with Ethereum. ICOs preying on lack of understanding from investors. They do not change and are immutable. However many believe that these principles either have to change in order to protect the future of the currency, or that the software must be upgraded in order to protect the principles. Editor: Mark OByrne, forks and ICOs solves bitcoin v gold debate.
Bitcoin Silver, or btcs, promises to offer tokenized bitcoin on the Ethereum blockchain. Find out what that means today in our review. Bitcoin Silver is a new cryptocurrency built on the Ethereum blockchain. Rating, chart and price. Tokenized, bitcoin on the Ethereum blockchain with direct fiat to btcs Conversion and Direct btcs to Cryptocurrency in 193 countries.
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ICOholder has no legal responsibility for any representations made by third parties in respect of any Token sale and any claim for breach of contract must also be made directly against the Token issuing entity listed herein. The main items up for debate are as follows: Bitcoin is currently limited in the number of transactions it can process. A solution (called SegWit2x) had seemingly been reached, a week or so back. What will happen to my bitcoin? . These two terms are ICO and Fork. (advertise here iCO details, tokenized, bitcoin on the Ethereum blockchain with direct fiat to btcs Conversion and Direct btcs to Cryptocurrency in 193 countries. Gold is gold and silver is silver. In theory Bitcoin Cashs larger block size could prompt investors to flee Bitcoin in favour of the new currency. Given Ethereum raised just.9 million in its 2014 ICO this shows phenomenal hype (or promise) in the space is growing rapidly. This week will mark a point in cryptocurrency history as the most powerful of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin will experience a major technical change and the US regulator SEC has just made a significant announcement about fundraising in the space. There is both beauty and safety in this simplicity. Will I own bitcoin cash as well as bitcoin?
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